A new season dawns for the Blue outfit

Longest-standing organisation in pro cycling -43 years of uninterrupted activity- celebrates digital event on Thursday, between their Almería camp and Madrid's Movistar studios; three rosters presented for the very first time, with women's, men's and esports

The Movistar Team, the longest-standing, most renowned team in international pro cycling, celebrated, together with Telefónica, the launch of its teams for their twelfth year of partnership. It will be the 43rd season of a squad established in 1980, which, after nearly 1,000 victories -they’re just five wins short for such a milestone-, will continue to fight for big goals in a 2022 season which has started with a digital event for the fans and media held on Thursday. A press conference and a public event broadcast by #Vamos (the sports channel exclusive to customers of Spanish platform Movistar+), as well as the Movistar Team and Telefónica Tech’s online channels, helped the Blues show to the world the 53 faces of their 2022 roster.

Telefónica CEO José María Álvarez-Pallete welcomed everybody to an event where, for the very first time, three different lineups were presented at the stage in Vera (Almería), one of two venues for the event together with the Movistar+ studios in Madrid. “I want to remember two great people and team-mates who sadly passed away last year, Gary Baños and Jesús Hoyos, whose families and friends I’d like to send all of my support. To us, the Movistar Team represents much more than a cycling team. It’s an accurate expression of our values, which include effort, resiliency, hard work and commitment. That’s why we’re so proud that you’re a part of the Telefónica family. Despite the circumstances forcing us to carry out this event as a digital format, I’m really looking forward to welcome you to Distrito Telefónica very soon, especially the new additions to the team. We put in your hands our biggest brands, and above that, our excitement about sport. We only ask you the same as every year: honour our brands at each and every ride and competition.”

The Movistar eTeam, the Blues’ esports squad created in March 2021 to compete in the best virtual cycling competitions in the world, featured for the very first time in such an event, with its two captains -Spaniard Ana Dillana and Dutchman Pim van Diemen- representing a 10-member group with five women and five men.

Alejandro Valverde, the leader and beacon of the Movistar Team for almost two decades, received the appreciation and recognition from his main sponsor at the last team launch he will take part in as a professional rider, before starting a 2022 season where he’s expected to end his career on the bike. Enric Mas, second overall in the 2021 La Vuelta and twice on the top-ten of the Tour de France, will lead, together with ‘Bala’, a men’s squad featuring eight signings, including one of the biggest names in Spanish cycling in 2021, Basque Alex Aranburu, and two new Latin American additions to the Movistar Team roster: Iván Sosa (Colombia) and the young Vinícius Rangel (Brazil).

The two, together with Puerto Rico’s Abner González; Einer Rubio and Paula Patiño (COL); and the arrival of Arlenis Sierra (Cuba), continue to strengthen a Movistar Team whose women’s roster will still be spearheaded this year by the mighty Annemiek van Vleuten. The world’s number 1 rider in 2021, together with the biggest revelation of the WWT last season, the Danish powerhouse Emma Norsgaard, are the two leaders of a block with strength in all terrains and enormous potential in the likes of Katrine Aalerud, Aude Biannic, Sara Martín, Aude Biannic, Sheyla Gutiérrez or the Blues’ other signing for the new year, Australia’s Sarah Gigante.

The 2022 Movistar Team launch also showed, once again, the strong ties between Telefónica’s values and those of its main sponsored squad. Equal opportunity and teamwork, represented by the power and cohesion of a women’s team which has risen to the top-3 in the UCI ranking in just four years. The commitment to innovate, best expressed by the work from the team partners and the arrival, in 2021, of Telefónica Tech, with Big Data as their top focus. The support of road safety campaigns, directed to both cyclists and drivers, to remind them about mutual respect under the motto #RodamosJuntos. And a big effort on sustainability, propelled by the Movistar Team’s initiatives during the last two years, which have received backing from their sponsor; the applause from the Union Cycliste Internationale, which puts the team as an example; and the Seal of Recognition from Spain’s Ministry for Ecological Transition.

Telefónica, a big supporter of Spanish cycling with its partnerships with the Movistar Team and also the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation, with the ‘Women in Bike’ program as main impulse, wants to keep showing this sport to the public as no one else does, and will release, in few months’ time, Season 3 of their documentary series ‘The Least Expected Day’. The 2021 season of the Telefónica-backed squad’s women’s and men’s outfits will be the protagonist of this new installment.

The Movistar Team will start its 2022 season with its road teams in just under a week’s time, with the men’s squad making its debut at the Mallorca Challenge on Wednesday 26th January. The women’s roster will kick off its activity shortly after, at the Vuelta CV Féminas on Sunday 6th February, while the eTeam continues with the winter season of the Zwift Racing League’s Premier Division they started with on January 10th.

MOVISTAR TEAM – 2022 ROSTERS

Men’s Team: Alex Aranburu, Jorge Arcas, Will Barta (USA), Iñigo Elosegui, Imanol Erviti, Iván García Cortina, Abner González (PUR), Juri Hollmann (GER), Gorka Izagirre, Johan Jacobs (SUI), Matteo Jorgenson (USA), Max Kanter (GER), Oier Lazkano, Enric Mas, Lluís Mas, Gregor Mühlberger (AUT), Mathias Norsgaard (DEN), Nelson Oliveira (POR), Antonio Pedrero, Vinícius Rangel (BRA), Óscar Rodríguez, José Joaquín Rojas, Einer Rubio (COL), Sergio Samitier, Gonzalo Serrano, Iván Sosa (COL), Albert Torres, Alejandro Valverde, Carlos Verona. General Manager: Eusebio Unzué. Head of Performance (both teams): Patxi Vila. Technical Head (both teams): Iván Velasco. Sports directors: Chente García Acosta, José Luis Jaimerena, Maximilian Sciandri (GBR), Pablo Lastras.

Women’s Team: Katrine Aalerud (NOR), Aude Biannic (FRA), Jelena Erić (SRB), Sarah Gigante (AUS), Alicia González, Barbara Guarischi (ITA), Sheyla Gutiérrez, Sara Martín, Emma Norsgaard (DEN), Lourdes Oyarbide, Paula Patiño (COL), Gloria Rodríguez, Arlenis Sierra (CUB), Annemiek van Vleuten (NED). Manager: Sebastián Unzué. Sports directors: Jorge Sanz, Pablo Lastras.

Movistar eTeam: Pim van Diemen (NED), Ana Dillana, Vidar Mehl (NOR), Steph Clutterbuck (GBR), Daniel Guld (DEN), Hayley Simmonds (GBR), Jimmy Kershaw (GBR), Becky Storrie (IOM), Miguel Ángel Andrés, Beth Maciver (SCO).

2022 newcomers in italic.